Republic of Moldova

SARD/National Consultant to support the registration and development of Business Associations

Vacancy Number: Pr17/01649

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	26 Nov 2017, 17:00 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	N/A
Starting date:	30 Nov 2017
Reference to the project:	Support to Agriculture and Rural Development Programme
Expected Duration of Assignment:	November 30, 2017– April 30th, 2018 (50 working days)
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Contacts:

Mr. Andrei Stratulat.

Background

The overall objective of the project is to encourage confidence building in ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia district, including neighboring communities, through improved development opportunities leading to enhanced competitiveness of the agro-food sector, promotion of local entrepreneurship, creation of jobs, and raising incomes. The project has the following components:

Component 1: Enhanced Dialogue and Community Empowerment;

Component 2: Local entrepreneurship and SMEs development;

Component 3: Small-Scale Infrastructure Refurbishment and Promotion of Inter-Municipal Cooperation.

The project will be implemented in line with the confidence building approach, connecting region’s authorities and structures to the national ones, facilitating dialogue and inclusion in development of national strategies, as well as connecting neighboring villages through inter municipal cooperation.

Scope of work

Business support infrastructure plays a critical role in the success of new ventures, as it may provide a wide range of support in the form of advice, networking, finance, space and facilities for businesses. The success of such infrastructure critically depends on a good administrative framework, the accessibility of markets and an adequately trained local capacity to offer qualified support to entrepreneurs. In this context SARD aim is to strengthen business environment also by supporting regional associations.

Recently SARD started to work with two groups of entrepreneurs in ATU Gagauzia and Taraclia in the view of consolidation of one or two business associations for strengthening regional business sector. During the Gagauzia and Taraclia Business Week 2017 event that was held in June 2017, a number of up to 30 entrepreneurs from Gagauzia and Taraclia have signed 2 Memorandums of Intention to create Business associations of Gagauzia and of Taraclia. In parallel SARD is conducting together with Czech Trust Fund an activity with the two groups to train them and introduce into the business associations’ development speciffics, including by visiting similar organizations in Czech Republic and linking the group with Czech business sector during a B2B session. Further on the association/s will receive assistance from Czech experts in developing the Association Strategy and Action Plan.

The expected outcome for the consultant's assignment is increased knowledge and capacity of Gagauzia and Taraclia business environment to participate in the regional business and investment life along with influencing economic and investment policy reforms in partnership with national and local authorities and relevant national and international organizations.

The expected outputs to achieve the outcome include (i) at least one successfully launched and registered regional Business Association; (ii) complete Associations documents package; (iii) completely formed Association’s management bodies and selected and hired Director; iv) Associations members and Management bodies trained basically in: Moldovan legislation aspects on Associations and specifically business associations, Business Association services, Association promotion, branding and new members’ attraction, Lobby and Advocacy, Attraction of funds; v). 5 Project fiches based on the Strategic action plan developed with Czech support drafted.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

I. Academic Qualifications:
• Master’s Degree or equivalent (5-year university education) in Business administration and development, Economics, Public administration, Social sciences, or other relevant field;

II. Working experience:
• At least 5 years of proven previous experience in Business development and institutional development;
• Previous experience in working with international development partners and stakeholders in business development programs, especially in the area of SME development, consulting, training, business coaching, strategy development;
• Previous working experience associated with National or regional Business support infrastructures is a strong asset.

III. Competencies:
• A solid experience in the areas of Business (especially SME) development, operational business analysis, development and planning, tailored business consulting and coaching and strategic planning of the projects focused on economic development through providing evidence-based policy advice;
• Practical experience in organization management, business training, strategic planning of associations and public organizations at the national and regional level;
• Experience of work in multifaceted environment, that requires to combine and formulate common goals and crystalize win-win ideas and approaches;
• Excellent public speaking and presentation skills;
• Ability to meet deadlines and prioritize multiple tasks;
• Previous experience of work in targeted regions is an asset;
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English, Romanian and Russian; Knowledge of Gagauzian or Bulgarian languages is an asset.
Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.
UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. P11 form or Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references;
2. Cover letter, stating their interest in and qualifications for the consultancy.

3. Financial offer: All-inclusive remuneration rate per consultancy day.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fees, taxes, travel costs, accommodation costs, communication, and number of anticipated working days).  

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal, based on approach and methodology foreseen by the Consultant in the implementation of the assignment. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In case of unforeseeable travel for the business purpose, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

 

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